On April 25, 2007, the Kansas State Collegian ran a story and editorial about Chipotle restaurants using antibiotic- and hormone-free meat.
The original stories can be found at:
and
Below are examples of a couple of the ads – the same ones Amy and I saw on a billboard outside Kansas City a couple of months ago and prompted me to pronounce, "I’m never eating there again." (Which won’t really impact Chipotle’s bottom line since I ate at one once in Manhattan, KS; not a fan). Here’s why.
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Chipotle misses the microbiological point
01.may.07
K-State Collegian
Douglas Powell
http://media.www.kstatecollegian.com/media/storage/paper1022/news/2007/05/01/Opinion/Chipotle.Misses.The.Microbiological.Point-2889868.shtml
Editor,
The Chipotle campaign, summarized in advertisements and endorsed by the Collegian ("Chipotle to offer only naturally raised meats starting May 1" and "Consumers should appreciate, purchase meat raised without chemicals," April 25) is great marketing and lousy science.
Chipotle states that, "The hallmarks of Food With Integrity include things like unprocessed, seasonal, family-farmed, sustainable, nutritious, naturally raised, added hormone free, organic and artisanal." That may be a record for the most buzzwords in one sentence. What’s missing is "microbiologically safe."
Each and every year, some 76 million Americans are sickened by the food and water they consume. "Organic" and "local" don’t describe safeness.
Kudos to Chipotle for capitalizing on hucksterism.
But given the ubiquitous outbreaks of E.coli and salmonella on spinach, lettuce and tomatoes, I choose to purchase food from those who value and promote microbiologically safe food.
Douglas Powell
Scientific director of the International Food Safety Network, associate professor of diagnostic medicine/pathobiology